User Error Is The Undercover Through-line You Never Knew The Glitch Logs Needed

The third installment of The Glitch Logs, User Error, sees Glitch strapped for cash after her decision in the previous novel, Overclocked. Rather than laying low after surviving a series of unfortunate events, she has little choice but to take on a suspiciously well-paying job from her fixer to recoup her losses. Glitch has to go undercover at an elite university, providing cyber expertise in an ostensibly simple op centered on a student who ends up being more than what she seems.

After a fast-paced, thriller-like structure in the previous books, User Error could be a downbeat in this mixtape, allowing some breathing room to characterize further and flesh out Glitch by way of expanding on things briefly eluded to in previous novels.

One of the favorite things about this series is the author making pretty much every detail important.

I reread the previous books before starting User Error because I was all but certain past events would be expounded upon in the new book. I was pleasantly surprised when a small part of the first book comes back in a big way, even as the plot of the second book spirals into User Error. It is incredibly satisfying as a reader, knowing that everything you’re reading is pertinent and serves to both characterize and facilitate the plot.

After seeing a piece of the corporate world and, later, the underworld—the switch up to an undercover job at a prep school allows for some social commentary as the stratification of class situates Glitch and the other characters in the story. How, and why, Glitch chose to be a runner is nicely brought together here. It’s also just fun that the school ends up being as dangerous as the corporate job. Glitch is out of her comfort zone and element, leading to some great, humanizing moments for the character so far.

As with the previous Glitch Logs, User Error expands the world, pulls back a bit more of the mystery surrounding Glitch’s past, and ends with more interesting questions than the reader arrived with. There are more fantastic hacking sequences with well-realized imagery, something the author also excels at—and more action sequences too. User Error delivers what was well-liked and worked well, and then expands on it and deepens the protagonist. She’s fallible, human, and best of all, you can see the through-line of how she comes to be this way from her past catching up to her.

You can purchase User Error here: https://www.glitchlogs.com/product/glitch-logs-user-error/